Sprint Lands $2 Billion Multi-Year, Multi-State Contract

Sprint's 2012 has not quite been what they had hoped it would be, with the termination of the LightSquared deal and having to dump piles of cash into Clearwire to keep their current 4G network alive. They have also had trouble in recent years with their government contracts - there was once a time when every government agent had a Nextel phone, but with the antique nature of the network, that has not lasted. This week, Sprint announced a partnership that will help with both of these situations.

The Western States Contracting Alliance (WSCA), a combination of 15 states who have pooled their purchasing power to get better rates for services, has signed a 4 year, $2 billion deal with Sprint to provide wireless services to healthcare, education, safety, utilities and non-profits across those 15 states. This deal marks one of Sprint's largest deals of the year, something they certainly need with all of the partner problems they have had.

Why did they choose Sprint and what does this mean for the company? Find out after the break.

Sprint's regional sales VP, Kevin Kunkel, said about the deal,

Sprint earned the contract based on its innovative product and solutions portfolio, record of strong customer service, superior value, and pricing flexibility.

My guess is that the availability of unlimited 4G had a lot to do with this decision as well. As a business owner, that availability would make the decision to go with anyone other than Sprint a difficult one. In addition to the users, this also means a lot to Sprint. Gray Sigler, Sprint's WSCA client executive said,

With this new multiyear agreement with WSCA through October 2016, Sprint continues its industry-leading role as a wireless provider in the state and local public sector. Our intent in this space is to enable government entities across the country to achieve more with fewer resources using mobile solutions.

What is really means is $2 billion over the next 4 years, a needed cash influx for a company who has spent a lot of money keeping their partner in business. Hopefully, with contracts like this and new LTE handsets and their new LTE network, Sprint will be able to recapture the excitement they had when the original Evo 4G and Overdrive launched.